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Heat Wave in Southeast Asia Triggers Health Alerts

People walk with umbrellas during a heatwave in Manila on April 29, 2024. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)
People walk with umbrellas during a heatwave in Manila on April 29, 2024. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)
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Heat Wave in Southeast Asia Triggers Health Alerts

People walk with umbrellas during a heatwave in Manila on April 29, 2024. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)
People walk with umbrellas during a heatwave in Manila on April 29, 2024. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)

The Philippines has closed schools down and warned of overloading on its power grid, as authorities across Southeast Asia issued a series of health alerts for a crushing and deadly heat wave, Reuters reported.
The Philippines' country's education ministry cancelled in-person classes at public schools for two days on Sunday.
"We already have reports of high blood pressure and dizziness, and fainting for pupils and teachers in the past days," Benjo Basas, chairperson of Teachers' Dignity Coalition, a group of educators, told DWPM radio station.
Temperatures in the Philippines are forecast to reach 37 degree Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in the next three days, with many classrooms crowded and without air conditioning.
The country's weather agency said the heat index - the actual temperature felt by the body to include relative humidity - is expected to remain at a record 45 degrees Celsius (113° Fahrenheit), in the range which it classes as "dangerous" as conditions can trigger heat stroke from prolonged exposure.
The heat wave is also putting pressure on power supplies on the main island of Luzon, which accounts for three-quarters of economic output, with reserves thinning after 13 power plants had shut down earlier this month, the Philippines' grid operator said in a statement.
In Thailand, temperatures are forecast to surpass 40 degrees in Bangkok and the country's central and northern regions with the meteorological agency advising people to avoid being outdoors for extended periods.
Temperatures soared to 44.2 degrees Celsius in the northern city of Lampang on April 22, with the meteorological department saying on Monday it expects the extreme heat will continue this week.
In the past month, 30 people have died from heat stroke, data from Thailand's health ministry showed.
DEHDRATION, HEAT SHOCK
People are seeking respite from the heat in air-conditioned shopping malls in Vietnam's business hub Ho Chi Minh City, state media reported, with the country's national weather agency warning of risks of forest fires, dehydration, and heat shock.
Maximum temperatures measured in several parts of northern and central Vietnam ranged from 40.2 and 44.0 degree Celsius the agency said on Sunday, adding that temperatures won't subside until Wednesday.
Vietnam's state electricity company has also urged consumers to refrain from overworking their air conditioning units, warning that electricity consumption has reached record highs in the recent days.
Malaysia meteorological department issued hot weather warnings on Sunday for 16 areas that have recorded temperatures between 35 and 40 degrees (95 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit) for three consecutive days.
A total of 45 cases of heat-related illnesses have been reported in the country as of April 13, the health ministry said, without specifying when it began tracking the cases. Two deaths due to heat stroke have been reported, the ministry said in a statement.
In the neighboring city state of Singapore, the meteorological service said the country's temperatures could soar higher in 2024 than last year, which was Singapore's fourth-warmest year since records began in 1929.
Singapore's hottest day recorded was May 13 last year when the highest daily maximum temperature hit 37 degrees Celsius, Reuters said.
Since last month some schools have relaxed rules on uniforms to allow students to wear more comfortable physical education attire amid the persistent heat.
Meanwhile, warmer temperatures in Southeast Asia's most populated nation of Indonesia are driving a surge in cases of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne infection, with cases more than doubling to 35,000 from 15,000 a year earlier, the health ministry has said.
The El Nino weather pattern has prolonged the dry season and hotter temperatures have accelerated the mosquito lifecycle, Indonesian health ministry spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmizi told state news agency, Antara.

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Great White Shark Caught on Underwater Footage During Mediterranean Clean-up

People fish at sunset near the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the Mediterranean coast in Beirut, Lebanon, 05 June 2026. (EPA)
People fish at sunset near the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the Mediterranean coast in Beirut, Lebanon, 05 June 2026. (EPA)
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Great White Shark Caught on Underwater Footage During Mediterranean Clean-up

People fish at sunset near the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the Mediterranean coast in Beirut, Lebanon, 05 June 2026. (EPA)
People fish at sunset near the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the Mediterranean coast in Beirut, Lebanon, 05 June 2026. (EPA)

Divers removing abandoned ‌fishing nets from the central Mediterranean, between Italy and North Africa, have captured what they believe is the first-ever underwater footage of an adult great white shark in the region.

The sighting occurred as a team led by the Healthy Seas Foundation recovered so-called ghost nets from a shipwreck in the Strait of Sicily -- a biodiversity hotspot heavily impacted by industrial fishing.

The video, taken ‌last week and ‌released on Monday, shows the shark ‌accompanied ⁠by a dozen ⁠striped pilot fish, that often flank large predators in the hope of picking up leftovers.

Footage and photographs of the shark were filmed by volunteer diver Derk Remmers of Ghost Diving, one of the project partners.

"An offshore underwater shark encounter ⁠in the Mediterranean is insane," Remmers ‌said in a statement.

Another ‌member of the diving team, Pascal van Erp, ‌said on Facebook that the shark had likely ‌been drawn to dead marine life entangled in the abandoned fishing net, including lots of sea turtles.

While there have been occasional sightings of great whites in the ‌Mediterranean, the size of the population is unknown and previous encounters are not ⁠believed ⁠to have been filmed by divers, the foundation said.

"Moments like this remind us how much life can still exist in offshore Mediterranean waters and how important it is to protect it from preventable threats like abandoned fishing gear or overfishing," said Healthy Seas director Veronika Mikos.

Researchers working with the mission said the sighting could improve understanding of the distribution and behavior of the critically endangered species, though further analysis would be required before broader conclusions are drawn.

Varieties

Aging France to See Population Fall After 2037 Peak

People walk along the Seine river in Paris on June 2, 2026 with in the background "La Caverne du Pont Neuf" ("The Pont Neuf Cave") artwork by French street artist and photographer JR on the Pont-Neuf bridge after it was damaged and torn by the wind. (Photo by SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP)
People walk along the Seine river in Paris on June 2, 2026 with in the background "La Caverne du Pont Neuf" ("The Pont Neuf Cave") artwork by French street artist and photographer JR on the Pont-Neuf bridge after it was damaged and torn by the wind. (Photo by SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP)
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Aging France to See Population Fall After 2037 Peak

People walk along the Seine river in Paris on June 2, 2026 with in the background "La Caverne du Pont Neuf" ("The Pont Neuf Cave") artwork by French street artist and photographer JR on the Pont-Neuf bridge after it was damaged and torn by the wind. (Photo by SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP)
People walk along the Seine river in Paris on June 2, 2026 with in the background "La Caverne du Pont Neuf" ("The Pont Neuf Cave") artwork by French street artist and photographer JR on the Pont-Neuf bridge after it was damaged and torn by the wind. (Photo by SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP)

France's population is expected to peak in 2037, seven years earlier than previously estimated, before shrinking back to around its 2014 level in the following decades, statistics agency INSEE said on Monday.

France has long had stronger demographics than most of Europe, but an ageing population and falling birth rates show it is not immune to the pressures straining public finances across the continent.

France's ⁠natural population growth ⁠turned negative in 2025 and will remain so, with gains until 2037 driven entirely by migration, INSEE said in its latest projections.

The population is expected to rise from 69.1 million in 2026 ⁠to a peak of 69.8 million in 2037, before falling to 65.9 million by 2070, roughly its 2014 level, Reuters reported.

INSEE's previous projections in 2021 put the peak later, in 2044, at about 69.3 million.

If migration weakens or fertility falls below the central assumption of 1.45 children per woman, the population could drop to as low ⁠as ⁠54.6 million by 2070.

As well as shrinking, the population will age significantly.

By 2070, one in three people in France will be aged 65 or older, about double the share under 20.

The sharpest shift will be among the oldest groups, with the number aged 80 and over more than doubling to around 9 million, while centenarians could quadruple to about 160,000

Varieties

Cuba’s Iconic Antique Cars Sit Idle as US Energy Blockade Deepens Fuel Crisis

An old car drives past the Gran Hotel Bristol in Havana on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
An old car drives past the Gran Hotel Bristol in Havana on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
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Cuba’s Iconic Antique Cars Sit Idle as US Energy Blockade Deepens Fuel Crisis

An old car drives past the Gran Hotel Bristol in Havana on June 3, 2026. (AFP)
An old car drives past the Gran Hotel Bristol in Havana on June 3, 2026. (AFP)

A worsening fuel crisis across Cuba is testing the island's famed “almendrones," the vintage American cars that serve as vital shared taxis and embody the island’s ingenuity and endurance.

These days, many of the iconic gas-guzzling antique cars sit idle, casualties of fuel shortages that have gripped Cuba since January and that Cuban officials blame on a US energy blockade.

Outside his modest concrete-block home on a dirt road in Las Minas, a town of about 2,000 people on the outskirts of Havana, Diriel Valdez is restoring a 1951 Chevrolet Deluxe. The burgundy body is intact and the original engine still works. Finding fuel for it, however, is another matter.

Valdez is among thousands of Cubans waiting for fuel through a government reservation app that, for many, has become a symbol of the shortages it was designed to manage.

“I signed up in February ... I’m still somewhere around number 2,800,” said the 27-year-old who runs an auto body shop from his home.

The reward for the wait would be 20 liters (5.3 gallons) of gasoline — enough fuel, Valdez says, to get him to the beach.

The name almendrón comes from the Spanish word for almond, a reference to the rounded shape of the large American sedans imported before Cuba’s 1959 revolution.

For decades, sanctions, shortages and limited imports forced Cuban mechanics to become masters of improvisation. Engines were swapped, bodies rebuilt and replacement parts sourced from wherever they could be found.

On a recent night in Havana, as another blackout darkened much of the city, taxi driver Leonardo Daniel González steered a friend’s glowing purple 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster through the darkness.

“These cars are passed down from generation to generation,” said González, 30. “I had one that belonged to my great-grandfather. It went from him to my grandfather, then to my father, and then to me.”

The wait for fuel Cuba is experiencing one of its most severe energy crises in years. The population, already battered by decades of economic crises and shortages, is now navigating daily blackouts that can last up to 20 hours in some parts of the island.

The country produces only about 40% of the fuel it consumes and depends heavily on imports to keep its power plants running and its transportation network moving.

Since January, the Trump administration has tightened sanctions on Cuba as an element of its ongoing pressure campaign against the island’s communist government. Trump also threatened tariffs on countries that sell or transport oil to Cuba, further complicating the island’s efforts to secure fuel supplies. Just a single Russian tanker has delivered oil to the island nation since then.

Standing beside his Chevrolet in Las Minas, Valdez, who runs the auto body shop, said the fuel shortage is also affecting his livelihood. He learned auto-body work from his stepfather and has been repairing classic cars since he was 13.

“People don’t want to do major repairs anymore,” he said. “A lot of them have their cars parked. They don’t have much hope that they’ll be circulating the way they used to.”

Almendrones persist even with electric vehicles

As gasoline becomes harder to obtain, many drivers are turning to Cuba’s black market, where fuel can often be found more quickly, though at significantly higher prices that can reach up to $8 per liter ($30 per gallon).

Omar Everleny Pérez, a former economist at the University of Havana’s Center of Cuban Economic Studies, said the country’s transportation system still depends heavily on almendrones because modern vehicles remain out of reach for most Cubans.

“They’ve been vital to the transportation of ordinary Cubans,” he said. “Not only in Havana but throughout the country.”

New vehicles have become available in Cuba in recent years, but at prices far beyond the reach of most state-sector workers, Pérez said. That has helped keep the aging American cars on the road, even as a different future is beginning to emerge on Cuba’s streets.

Electric motorcycles imported from China have become increasingly common. Small electric vehicles are also appearing, aided by a growing network of solar-powered charging stations promoted by the government as part of its push toward renewable energy.

Back in Havana, González is not ready to write off the almendrones. Despite the lack of fuel and a sharp decline in tourism, he can still make a living off the old Chevrolet.

“There are ... several WhatsApp groups for us to find rides and so on,“ said González. “But tourism in Cuba is in very bad shape.”